Yesterday it snowed. Today it's in the mid-5o's. I really wish the weather would make up its mind.

This week at school Carly has been learning about the Rodeo that comes to Houston. They had a Western wear dress up day today. Me...being a horrible Texas Mama....does not own a single piece of western wear for my lil' cowgirl. So, I ran to wal-mart and found some cute material and made a skirt for her to wear, I added some ruffles to a white T (not sure if I'm liking them.) She looked so cute and was actually excited about going to school today (we've been having issues with that lately!)

Making smores-in the house-because we're wimps-it was too cold outside

We had Family over today to Celebrate Valentine's day. We had a yummy dinner and then decorated cupcakes! It was a lot of fun!

I made this little outfit for Carly. I had been wanting to re-fashion something for a long time. So, I found an old green shirt of mine that was too small, I had extra material left over from a quilt I'm making for Carly and I added some ruffle to a white shirt she already owned. It was a lot of fun and turned out better than I though (still not perfect) She looked so cute in it!

Sam found my boots.

This was Carly's Valentine box she made at her school. She was so excited to give and get valentines!

Paintball + Family + beautiful day = F. U. N!!

All the participants. They really had a lot of fun!

Skipper, of course, had fun!

Chad wanted to wear something to stand out so people would know who shot them. Even the little boys got in on the fun, although they ran and hid more than they hot their guns!

Grateful thoughts....

Today was cold. (46 degree or so, I know....poor me!) anyway....I made soup. Potato soup. YUM! Now, onto better things.....

I am grateful for school and that I have a little girl who loves it!
I am grateful for bicycles and that I broke down and spent the money for this little girl. She loves it and does really well!

I am grateful for good deals! I picked up this little baby (the car, not Sam) at Goodwill for $7.99. That's right, I said $7.99. It was kind of pathetic how happy I got.


I am grateful for stickers (and all the simple things in life) that occupy my children (for an hour, no joke) It was definitely worth the $3.00 I spent on the sticker book!

Most of all I am grateful for my kids. I don't show it as often as I should and I have to remind myself on certain days that they are truly a blessing that I should never take for granted. I'm not going to lie, some days it's hard to remember that, some days I just pray that I make it through the day (which I always do, so that right there is proof that prayers are answered)

I Love them!

BTW: I just got called to be the Beehive advisor in church. I'm pretty excited, I was the same thing for a year after we first moved to Texas. So....any thoughts, helps, good web-sites will be greatly appreciated!

some fun.....

Old Town Spring

Today we were able to go to Old Town Spring and visit with my Grandparents (who are in town from Utah) and my Uncle and Aunt who live a little over an hour away from us. It was fun to get the kids outside and to see family!

When we got home from Old Town Spring we started doing some work in our backyard, cutting down small trees and clearing some more space for the kids to play. We (Chad) ended up building a burn pile and it got me in the mood to cook dinner over the fire. Well, I had nothing prepared so we ended up eating hotdogs over the fire followed by smores! YUM! It's been so long since I've had a smore. Carly and Sam LOVED it! We will definately be doing this again!

Carly trying to make her "smarshmellow brown."

This was Sam's masterpiece.

(don't worry, I only let him take one bite of the delicacy)

Okay, I love this picture! It was so funny to see them both so intrigued by the fireball marshmallow!

Carly kept posing while I was taking pictures of her Smarshmellow face. She was having a good time!

5 years.....

Five years down.....many many more to go! I'm so glad I married my best friend!

(I may look extremely happy, but don't be mislead....Chad was just grabbing my butt. After Five years he still can't resist it!)

Fun stuff

The other night for Family Night chad decided to whip up some cookies with the kids and of course they didn't argue. They had fun helping/watching/eating!

I've been in such a festive/craft mood lately I've been dying to make something. I got THIS and THIS idea from a website (one of my many craft idea websites!) It was actually quite easy to make. Ulitmately I like the one's from the craft website better but I'm pretty happy with the way my turned out. I ended up putting my felt circles tighter together which caused me to use more felt than needed. I still need to make one more topiary and then I'll be done (with this project)

My Carly girl...

I already posted these on facebook but here they are for those of you that don't use facebook. It had been a while since I've taken some pictures of just Carly so I thought today would be a good chance to do that. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. With her starting pre-school next week it's really reminded me that she is not a baby (I was reminded of that when I had Sam of course) But I'm now just realizing the fact that she is a little girl now and it makes me sad and happy at the same time! I, of course, have mixed feeling about her going to pre-school. One side of me is saying "WAHOO" and the other half of me is crying inside because inevitable after pre-school comes elementary school, then middle, then high school! Time is just flying by and I don't like it! We sure love Carly, although she drives me absolutely crazy most days. She definitely brings a lot of energy into our house which I am so grateful for! (most the time) I can't imagine my life without her and I am honored to know that I was thought worthy enough to raise such a strong, sweet spirit in today's world! I only hope that I can, with the Lord's help, raise her to be strong in the gospel and love the Lord so that she can be strong enough to withstand Satan in the last days. It's a scary a scary but empowering thought to know that it is up to me to teach her what is right. okay, there's my two-sense, now enjoy the cute pictures!

They found a treasure in the backyard.

The day has come. I'm not quite sure what to do. Carly never did this. It must be a boy thing! Now what? Do we put him in a toddler bed??

Some views of the new place

I am loving our new place! The kids are doing great too! I've taken a couple pictures, don't mind the messes :) It's still a little strange to be in an all new house in a whole new area but I am really liking it and I LOVE how quiet it is here at night!
The kids enjoying the backyard, we've got a lot of pruning to do!

Some different views of our living area. It's strange to have an open floorplan, strange...but really nice!

Two different views of the kitchen.

Here is a picture of Carly's room. I have lots of cute ideas for her room (including a new bedspread! She went from a toddler bed to a queen sized bed and she's LOVING it!) She also LOVES her new room and will play in there most the day, it is quite nice for me! Sam's room is pretty much the same just a little smaller and the walls are white. Our room is a mess still, thus the reason I have no picture of it on here :)

First day of Primary!

This is Carly showing off her paper that she colored in her first day of Primary. She absolutely LOVED it. I was curious at how she would behave but from what I hear she did great. She gets to be in the same class as her cousin Adam, that teacher just better be prepared! :)

Chore Chart

I am looking for a good (and cute) chore chart to use with Carly....any suggestions on where to find one?

Christmas and Back home again....

I put the pictures out of order so start from the bottom and work your way up...or just read out of order :)
Lastly, early Sunday morning we headed out. It was bitter-sweet. I didn't want to leave my family, I had so much fun with them for the past two months, I'm so glad I decided to stay that long! My kids had a blast. I'm glad that my hubby let me stay away that long. We spent another 24 hours in the car. The kids did awesome, they must be used to it by now!! No major meltdowns....
It was exciting to come home to a new house. A little weird at times to be in a totally different area of town. The kids (luckily) have adjusted really well. They both went to bed the first night with no major trouble! Now I just have A LOT of un-packing and arranging to do. It's not my most favorite thing but it has to get done!!

My parents gave us all gift cards and free baby-sitting on Saturday night. They were either brave or insane for taking that many kids on, I'm sure they had fun! It was so much fun to get together with all of my siblings and their other halves to enjoy some good food! I'm so glad I have these memories! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Since we had everyone together we thought it would be a good time to get some family pictures. They turned out pretty good for as many wiggly kids that we had.

Here is all of the grand kids in their matching pj's that my mom made! They were so cute running around (although the hats didn't stay on long.) My mom is a trooper for putting all of them together!

More pictures from Christmas day.

We had a great Christmas this year. Santa brought lots of fun little surprises....he must have known we had to fit everything home in our car. It was so much fun to be at my parents and to have our whole family together for the short period of time it was. It was a full house but it was a fun house!

Gingerbread houses

We made gingerbread houses the other night. My mom and I made real gingerbread and cut out all the pieces to assemble the house. I am definitely making this a tradition of my own...it's so fun and pretty simple! My kids had more fun eating the candy. Carly just kept throwing handfuls of candy onto the house. Sam kept licking pieces of candy and then sticking them onto the house. He had to test them to make sure they were okay I guess.

Chad got creative and decided to decorate his son. Sam was so funny and didn't quite know what to do. He left it on his nose for while.

Temple Square

We went to Temple Square last night to looks at the lights. I left Sam with my sister and My mom, Carly and I went downtown. Carly was excited to see all the lights but was more excited about all the ponds and fountains they had there.